Iao and Leroy's excellent Japanese snowboarding adventure

Okay, I admit it - I’m a doria addict. What is a doria you ask? It’s a baked rice dish popular in Japan. I am lead to believe that it has Italian origins, and if you google ‘doria’ you will find some good recipes. Think Spanish paella, and you will be getting close to what we are dealing with here.

In our time at Furano, we spent probably 7 or 8 of our 12 nights at R’s restaurant opposite Bar Ajito, and once I tried the doria the first night, I never deviated. R’s also make a great omelette curry, another favourite Hokkaido staple. Once I convinced Iao of the virtues of the doria,he also became a massive fan. In short, if you are in Furano - goto R’s and order a doria!

Upon my return to Australia, I googled ’doria’ to get the recipe. I found something close here which is a great low fat recipe, but it seemed a bit complex to me, and was missing some of the essential elements that made R’s dorias so oishii (delicious ).

I decided to make my own version of the doria. Forgive the approximate quantities and method, but this should give you a good start to replicating the famous R’s doria:

Ingredients

2 medium potatoes

1.5 cups brown rice

500 grams minced chicken

2 portobello mushrooms

1 small tin of corn

1 small packet of cherry tomatoes

1 onion

1 small jar of pasta sauce

10 slices salami

2 eggs

100 grams low fat grated cheese

Method

Brown chicken mince and onion in a pan with some olive oil. Slice the mushrooms and add after 2 minutes. Cook until all ingredients are cooked, then turn off heat.

Boil rice for 40 minutes.

Boil potatoes for 20 minutes.

When all ingretients are ready, add rice to the bottom of a large baking dish.

Add chicken, onion and mushrooms to top of rice.

Cover entire ingredients with the pasta sauce.

Chop potatoes into quarters and add to dish spacing evenly.

Add corn, tomatoes and salami evenly throughout dish.

Cove entire dish with grated cheese.

Crack 2 eggs on top of cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Voila! You now have an authentic replica of an R’s doria! Of course nothing can substitute for the real thing, and I’ll be back for more in 2011.